Some of the coolest bars in London, don’t necessarily look like bars. There’s one inside a butchers, one in the former switch room of Battersea Power Station and one in a garden above a Victorian tunnel shaft.
These are bars that start conversations. Their off-the-beaten-track locations will help to break the ice and their commitment to creating a very particularly kind of cool will have you coming back time and again.
Enough said, these are they:
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The Dreamery | Islington
Nothing says cool like ice cream. Arguably even cooler is pairing ice cream with wine.
That’s the offering at The Dreamery, a small yet beautifully designed wine bar slash ice cream parlour from the team behind neighbouring restaurant, Goodbye Horses. While the combination of a chilled sweet treat and a glass biodynamic Chardonnay might sound unconventional, the idea provides a practical solution for the team’s sister site just down the road – think of it as a gorgeous and delicious waiting area, where you can sip on a glass of something sparkling before your dinner or enjoy a nightcap and a single-serve sorbet after.
Details: 20a Halliford St, N1 3HD | No bookings
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Space Talk | Farringdon
Nothing’s edgier than Brutalist design. And this place is full of rectilinear lines – as well as a concise curation of inventive cocktails and a line-up of Japanese-leaning small plates. There’s also a bespoke sound system so you can sink into melodic bliss as you tuck into tuna tartare and one of the signature Fennel cocktails.
Details: 18-20 St John Street, Farringdon, EC1M 4AY | Book Space Talk (available for larger groups)
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Bar Termini | Soho
Bar Termini appears to have gotten waylaid on the way back to 1950s Rome. But in reality it’s just a beautifully retro confection from Tony Conigliaro (of 69 Colebrooke Row), whose scientifically perfected negronis are poured here with jaw-dropping accuracy by white jacketed barkeeps.
Details: 7 Old Compton Street, W1D 5JE | Book Bar Termini
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Lost Property Office | Waterloo
Seek and ye shall find… a tiny, clandestine speakeasy headed up by the enormously talented mixologist Rich Woods, hidden within – of all places – a bombastic two-storey Brewdog pub in the middle of Waterloo station.
Details: The Sidings, Waterloo Station, London SE1 7BH | Book Lost Property Office
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Below Stone Nest | Soho
A seriously cool bar hidden right in the centre of town, with classic cocktails and quality DJ sets till late, that you’d never know was there… unless you make a habit of excavating beneath abandoned 18th century churches.
Details: 136 Shaftesbury Avenue, W1D 5EZ | No bookings
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Ludo’s | Wood Green
Enjoy the retro experience of being (legally) allowed to get boozed on London transport: Ludo’s is a bar set in a salvaged double decker bus, parked up in a little enclave of artists’ studios up in Wood Green. There’s a decent line-up behind the bar for such a tiny space, plus a packed events programme including pub quizzes, live music and comedy nights that are quite literally top-tier.
Details: Blue House Yard, 5 River Park Road, N22 7TB | See what’s on
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Bobby Fitzpatrick | West Hampstead
Prepare to travel back in time with a man you’ve never met. A night at Bobby Fitzpatrick’s feels like a house party in a 1970s timewarp, with gloriously kitsch decor, retro cocktails, disco DJs and pizza for when you need a carb hit.
Details: 273 West End Lane, NW6 1QS | Book Bobby Fitzpatrick
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Bar Kinky | Fitzrovia
Not as its name suggests, Bar Kinky is in fact an innocent cocktail bar located below the dumpling restaurant, Kinkally on Charlotte Street. Not all shy and retiring, the space itself is a sleek copper vault with just a few stools around a central bar. The cocktails fit the mood with concoctions like the silky Vision, with whiskey, basil, coconut, horchata, & milk tea; and the Nature, a surprisingly sweet combination of bourbon, porcini mushrooms, honey & sherry.
Details: 43 Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, W1T 1RS | No bookings
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Jumbi | Peckham
A vast warehouse-turned-church of music, with a double-height record library and a vintage sound system. The menu meanwhile brings together the culinary riches of the African diaspora, from rum cocktails to Fools Gold Fritters (with banana, peanut and bacon candy).
Details: Unit 4.1 Copeland Park, 133 Copeland Road, SE15 3SN | Book Jumbi
Glade Bar at Sketch | Mayfair
The Glade room at Sketch is more than just a pretty face. It’s a pretty face with double-height ceilings and walls of hand-pasted decoupage wallpaper, a lush, forest-like carpet, exquisite cocktails… and a self-playing pink piano.
Details: 9 Conduit Street, W1S 2XG | No bookings
Telli’s | Newington Green
If you fancy a drink in an unusual setting, have a butcher’s at this. Newington Green meat-slingers Stella’s swaps mutton for martinis at the weekend, when they wipe down the surfaces and set up a clandestine cocktail bar after hours.
Details: 101 Newington Green Road, N1 4QY | No bookings
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Control Room B | Battersea
Control Room B has a powerful claim to being one of the most unusual bars in London – given that it’s set within the former switch room of Battersea Power Station, and the original knobs, dials and buttons are all still in place orbiting the enormous central cocktail bar.
Details: Battersea Power Station, London SW8 5BN | Book Control Room B
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City of London Distillery (COLD) | The City
COLD is an extremely cool bar. Floor to ceiling windows reveal the in-house distillery, in which two copper stills (Jennifer and Clarissa) patiently age gin. The same gin that you can then order from the bar, or try straight from the vats if you book a distillery tour.
Details: 22-24 Bride Lane, EC4Y 8DT | Book COLD
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Cahoots | Soho
Cahoots had very little competition when it came to Blitz era cocktail bars hidden within forgotten tube stations, with skiffle bands, swing dancing, and ‘Dig For Victory’ cocktails. So they’ve opened another one right across the street, and a 1940s post-office themed bar in London Bridge, just to keep themselves on their toes.
Details: 13 Kingly Court, W1B 5PW | 5 Kingly Street, W1B 5PF | 18 Stoney St, SE1 9AD | Book Cahoots
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Bruno’s | Islington
Hop aboard a low-lit barge moored on Regent’s Canal, and drink like a sailor: Bruno’s will happily furnish you with signature cocktails like the Below Deck (with blood orange & bourbon) to help you find your sea legs.
Details: 172 Shepherdess Walk, N1 7JL | Book Bruno’s
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Equal Parts | Hackney
Equal Parts is the best kind of cool. It’s not-knowingly cool. It’s a laid-back corner spot from the Sager half of Sager + Wilde, and serves really, really good cocktails in a lazy, Havana-style setting with a retro vinyl soundtrack.
Details: 245 Hackney Road, E2 8NA | Book Equal Parts
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Lowcountry | Shoreditch
In the bowels of Counter 71 in Shoreditch (which, incidentally, is one of the best restaurants in the area), is where you’ll find Lowcountry. It’s all stone walls, soft lighting and plush detailing, taking cues from the American South. The drinks menu is split between Signatures, Classics and Historical. Our best advice? Pluck for something whisky-based (their signature), order some popcorn chicken and imagine you’re in South Carolina.
Details:71 Nile Street, Shoreditch, East London, N1 7RD | Book Lowcountry
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BYOC | The City
An illicit drinking den that brings back the golden days of Prohibition… by not stocking any booze. Instead, you’ll bring a bottle of your desired poison, and, over the next two hours, your personal barkeep will supplement your spirit with bitters, infusions and syrups to create unlimited, entirely bespoke cocktails.
Details: 59a Carter Lane, London, EC4V 5DY | Book BYOC
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The Midnight Apothecary | Rotherhithe
As well as being one of the only bars in Rotherhithe, The Midnight Apothecary also happens to be one of the coolest – it’s set in a garden on top of a Victorian tunnel shaft, where Lottie Muir (a.k.a. The Cocktail Gardener) rustles up the growing produce into botanical-inspired cocktails, while you roast s’mores over the campfires.
Details: Brunel Museum Rooftop, Railway Avenue, Rotherhithe, SE16 4LF | Book the Midnight Apothecary
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Nipperkin | Bloomsbury
A beautiful little nook of a bar just below NIJŪ, with a neat wooden bar that keeps you an arms distance from the person mixing your cocktail. The drinks list is a balance between classics and in-house inventions, like the Grilled Leeks & Truffles made using their own grilled leek spirit, Cambridge truffle gin, pickled onion vermouth.
Details: 20 Berkeley Street, Mayfair, W1J 8EE | Book Nipperkin
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Disrepute | Soho
A subterranean sleeve of a space fitted with seductive, conspiratorial nooks; jewel-toned velvet seating; mirrors; brass; and a cocktail menu that’s written entirely in the form of short stories.
Details: 4 Kingly Street, W1F 9BW | Book Disrepute
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The Sun Tavern | Bethnal Green
A sláinte-toasting, glass-clinking, Stones-playing drinking den that specialises in local brews, grown-up cocktails and the Irish spirit poitín – all housed in a brick-walled 1850s corner tavern, thanks to the team behind two other cool London bars, Discount Suit Company and Umbrella Workshop.
Details: 441 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AN | Book The Sun Tavern
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Black Rock | Shoreditch
A basement bar with a whisky library arranged conveniently by flavour profile… and a house blend that pours out of a felled tree. Cool right?
Details: 9 Christopher Street, EC2A 2BS | Book Black Rock
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Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration | Charing Cross
True to their namesake, the Mr. Fogg’s bars have travelled across the city and can now boast eleven equally eccentric drinking dens across London. Just to make sure that they don’t all start feeling ‘samey’ (as far as a cocktail bar filled with bric-a-brac and curiosities from around the world, based on a fictional eccentric Victorian traveller can be)… they’ve fitted this particular branch out with a dedicated maps room (where you can plan your next voyage); a steampunk mechanical cocktail maker; and an entire, Orient Express-style train carriage in the middle of it.
Details: 1a Bedford Street, WC2E 9HH | Book Mr. Fogg’s Society of Exploration
Still looking for inspiration? Check out the Nudge’s guides to…
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The Best London Cocktail Bars | The Best Hidden Bars | London Bars with Live Music | London’s Top Activity Bars
